Video Ads: Facebook Video versus YouTube

Facebook has given a tough competition to YouTube in on video viewing options. Well, everyone is familiar with the changing policies and settings of Facebook and this new feature is again a surprise for many Facebook users. Now users can play videos on Facebook without any backlink of other websites. The videos take seconds to play and quicker to watch while checking news feed. So the marketers are comparing Facebook video viewer and YouTube video viewer to determine which one of them is best. But before you jump to the conclusion, have a quick look at the following factors.

Facebook’s trickery

In this high competitive online world, every social media website wants to capture audience as much as possible. The new video feature of Facebook is a new way to tease users. Now users can watch videos conveniently while using their Facebook accounts. The reason for this new feature is that the premium video ads of Facebook are very expensive as compared to the normal video ads. In order to improve their impression on other competitive websites, they publish all the views for videos on their platform so that they can convince people that Facebook is a premier place for video marketing. But the concept of comparing these views with videos of YouTube is very dishonest and makes no sense.

YouTube works on the principle that when a specific number of views for any video reaches a certain number then the algorithm changes and the details of how this video sharing website counts the views is still not public. Google never tries to control people with robotic features and the views of videos are dependent on the length, But sadly, Facebook doesn’t do that! It is making views easy to count and the auto play option of videos increases the views definitely. The moment you scroll down your news feed, the videos posted on the page start playing on their own without any sound so this is added as views. This is deceiving and wrong because even if you are not interested in watching some video, it will be playing in your news feed.

YouTube views are logical and validated as people watch videos after searching for them and playing them intentionally. No matter how many views Facebook videos will get, they will never surpass the views of YouTube videos.

Ways of advertising

The way YouTube advertises and the means of advertising of Facebook are entirely different. YouTube allows users to post promotional videos and many channels publish their videos on the website for better promotion. Whereas the small businesses cannot get those benefits by uploading their videos as people don’t search for them.

Another feature of YouTube is viewing the pre-video view ads that are helpful in saving time and users can check whether the video has their desired content or not. This advertising method is beneficial for the advertiser, YouTube and the owner of the video in making more money.

Another method of promotion is the addition of text at the bottom of the video on YouTube. You can add links, simple text and customize texts for better advertising. So the viewers will watch your message along with watching the video. The YouTube sidebar banner ads are also a way to advertise.

Coming back to Facebook, they have their premium video advertisements which are 15 seconds in length and it’s limited for promotions. But the thing is that they are really expensive and they are impulsive as people cannot avoid them while viewing thier news feed.

Another method of advertising that Facebook uses is the traditional PPC ads. The text and images in the news feed come as page posts. You can also notice them in your sidebar. If you click them, new video will be played which activates the action button customized by the advertiser. That button is the key to land in a new page for the product; which was being advertised in that add you just watched.

Another way to advertise with Facebook is that they tweaked their algorithm for improving their own videos but decreasing the weight of YouTube videos.

A Variance in advertising styles

Another major difference between the advertising ways of Facebook and YouTube is the way people use them. The YouTube can be used for Home Theater and Jukebox and people can create playlists and play them in background for their best convenience. Some people watch videos and play them on their TV. So in any of the cases, the YouTube users are there for videos and they spend time intentionally to listen music or watch videos! They have a purpose to open YouTube and that is to watch videos and to listen to the music. They don’t open YouTube to get in touch with anyone or to post something.

Facebook is not about videos only! It is about a lot of things from posting in news feed to promotion of your online business. There are no video libraries or guaranteed video searches. The videos are not the dominant reason people use Facebook for.

People visit Facebook to get in touch with their friends and to share the content which they feel interesting. Many brands and online companies use Facebook for promoting their products and they may add videos for better marketing but the videos are not the only way to advertise on Facebook. Users don’t watch Facebook videos with an intention to watch them. They just pass through any video and it starts auto playing but the truth is that most of the users don’t even bother it playing as they scroll down the next moment and the video stops automatically.

If you want to promote your business by video marketing, you can use both of the social media websites without comparing them for their benefits as the main purpose of video marketing is advertising and Facebook as well as YouTube can help you in this matter.

As Seen On

JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER

Signup today to receive our online Rantic newsletter!

About Us

Rantic is the worlds leading social media marketing company. We are unique in our industry in that we offer marketing solutions that drive quality followers to your accounts through our own reliable technologies. Buy Instagram Followers, Facebook Likes, and more today with Rantic.